There is enough drama around Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner that it’s best to keep some things very simple. The funny thing is, four of the five super simple recipes listed below are the ones that we get requests to make (and for the recipes… I end up emailing at least a couple of my kids or their friends the recipes every holiday season.

So here are 5 Quick Dishes To Make (or Bring) for Thanksgiving or Christmas. whether you’re hosting at home, or bringing these on the road, you’ll be thankful for a few appetizers and deserts you can make (mostly) ahead.

I have vanilla on my oatmeal every single morning. The problem? I can absolutely tell the difference between vanilla extract and imitation vanilla. And the real stuff? It’s not cheap. At our grocery store, the good stuff is $3 an ounce. Our family joke was that it would be cheaper for us to take a Baja cruise and get of in Ensanada to buy cheap vanilla than for me to get it at Costco.

So when I saw recipes floating around the web for homemade extract, I gave it a try. It is super easy (the hardest part is waiting the six weeks for the beans to masticate in the vodka.